MILWAUKIE, OR—Following the major success of previous manga omnibus editions, Dark Horse will deliver a new collected format of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari RaisingProject in summer 2016.

The famous final episode of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime TV show imagined the show’s main characters in an alternate world where friendship and romance could be as important as their task to pilot the Evangelion. That premise forms the story line of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project.

Stunning, hotheaded Asuka Langley Soryu has been friends with Shinji Ikari since they were little. And she always sort of assumed they’d stay together—until the day the beautiful, brilliant Rei Ayanami showed up in class! When Shinji starts to get curious about Rei, Asuka needs to figure out if she wants to be just friends with Shinji, or something more. But why are so many people keeping an eye on these relationships—people like homeroom teacher Misato, school nurse Ritsuko, and Shinji’s mother—NERV’s chief scientist, Yui Ikari . . . ?

Perhaps the most famous anime and manga franchise of the last 20 years, Evangelion celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2015, and a new movie is coming soon!